2 arrested in Guilford Clinic break-ins; 2 more sought by police

BRASELTON — Two arrests have been made and police were searching Tuesday for two more suspects in connection with the ransacking of a pair of Braselton medical clinics last week.

Braselton Police Chief Terry Esco said two men face charges related to recent break-ins at Braselton’s two Guilford Clinics, located at 5796 Old Winder Highway and 7367 Spout Springs Road.

Braselton Police Sgt. J.D. Gille said Tuesday that investigators were looking for two others in connection with the burglaries.

Gille said Kaleb Holloway, 20, of Flowery Branch was arrested by the Gainesville Police Department on a charge of failure to appear in court, and Carlos Lopez, 20, of Flowery Branch surrendered to authorities at the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.

Both men were charged with two counts of burglary and were in the Hall County jail, he said.

"The investigation is still ongoing to identify the other males on the video and to recover the stolen property," Gille said.

None of the property had been recovered late Tuesday.

In the Spout Springs burglary that was caught on tape, they appear to break out the glass with a tire iron, carry out a pair of monitors and fill a trash can with pilfered items.

Investigators said the first burglary happened shortly before 11 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Spout Springs location, where the clinic’s front door glass was broken out and flat-screen monitors were taken.

The next burglary happened at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, when drugs and computer equipment were taken from the Old Winder Highway location.

Guilford Clinic owner Dr. Ayham Haddad had four cameras installed shortly after a similar burglary at the Spout Springs office four months ago, when prescription narcotics were taken.

Haddad said he opted for a video surveillance system over a burglar alarm because there was no guarantee a response to an alarm would be quick enough.

"The camera seems more effective," he said, adding he was now considering adding burglar alarms to the clinics.

Esco said business owners who want to protect their businesses from similar occurrences should make sure their security systems work properly.

"Make sure that their alarm system is working and that the alarm system will contact us," Esco advised. "We don’t take any of them (the alarms) for granted."

Braselton Town Manager Jennifer Dees declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation, but Esco said business burglaries are rare in Braselton.

"As far as businesses getting broken into, we hardly had any at all," he said. "I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I’m informed when we have a business broken into."